Saint-Pierre Miquelon | Page 9

coast of New Foundland, near the bank of St. Pierre which is frequented by cod-fish and not far from the Grand Banks of New-Foundland. They are distant 135 miles from Cape Ray and Cape Race, which respectively form the south-western and south-eastern extremities of what the Spaniards call the land of the Bacalaos.
They are 6,470 kilometres from Brest the nearest point in the mother country. According to the French geographer, Onezime Reclus, the Islands of St. Pierre and Miquelon have a superficial area of 21,000 hectares and a resident population of 3,000 inhabitants. That, was 10 or 15 years ago. But, at present, according to the report of my able subordinate in those islands, the population amounts to 5,000 souls. The little archipelago is composed, on the north, of Grande-Miquelon, situate about 47�� 4' north latitude and 56�� 20' west longitude, on the south, of Petite-Miquelon or Langlade and, to the south-east of the latter, of St. Pierre which is much smaller but has a population three times greater than the two former.
It is hardly necessary to mention a few insignificant islets, which are nothing but bare granite rocks with no vegetation and uninhabited. Since 1783 the Grande and Petite Miquelon have been united by a sand-bank.
Saint Pierre contains the chef-lieu or capital of the same name where resides the governor of the whole group. This modest town is surrounded by low hills covered with dwarf resinous trees, which barely reach to the height of a child's shoulder. In the busy season, the floating population of fishermen and seamen from France and other countries greatly exceeds the number of the residents. The movements of the ships, the fishing and curing, then give a great animation to these poor islands, whose soil is sterile and whose climate is severe but very healthy.
A very small portion of St. Pierre and Miquelon is under cultivation; a few potatoes and cabbages and a little hay are all that a farmer can find. Vegetation is generally stunted. The hills in certain places are 500 feet high; in the lower portions are many swamps and morasses. Fishing is the chief if not the exclusive occupation of the inhabitants. Owing to the scarcity of wood the fuel is coal which comes principally from Nova Scotia and Cap Breton. The climate greatly resembles that of the ports of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The shores are frequently covered with dense fogs, which arise suddenly and hang over them for several days. St. Pierre on the north-east side of the island of the same name has an excellent harbor capable of containing a large number of vessels, with a very good anchorage. Sometimes as many as 60 fishing vessels are there at a time. The other harbours of the group offer neither the same advantages nor the same security. When certain winds blow, vessels which are anchored in them have to go out to sea to avoid being dashed by the gales upon the rocks.
To conclude these data upon the Islands of St. Pierre and Miquelon I may say that Nature seems to have specially intended them for excellent fishing stations.
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The waters around St. Pierre and Miquelon teem with numbers of various kinds of fish. Herring is often found in great shoals, but as the French fishermen who go there fish almost exclusively for cod, I will only speak of the latter.
Naturalists call it gadus morrhua; its chief characteristics are three dorsal fins, two anal fins and a wattle or bunch of filaments attached to the lower jaw. It is a malacopterygian or soft-finned fish. There are several species of this. The best known is the common cod. Its length varies from 70 centimetres to a metre. Its head is large and pointed, its mouth enormous, its eyes large and veiled with a transparent membrane, its scales are gray on the back and white on the belly with golden spots, and its fins are yellow and gray.
Such are the chief external characteristics of this denizen of the deep. If to this be added teeth simply imbedded in the flesh and which can be moved at will by the fish, a very capacious stomach, a voracious appetite and prodigious fecundity, you will have an idea of the hecatombs of small fish which the cod devours before it becomes the prey of that terrible destroyer, that omnivorous being, called man.
The cod sometimes attains the weight of one hundred pounds; but, large or small, heavy or light, it is always a precious treasure and a wholesome food for human beings. I alluded just now to its fecundity; you may judge of this for yourselves. The females carry from 4 to 8 millions of eggs: what romancer's dream can be compared to this living reality? One of those savants,